Now that we are enjoying nice long evenings I made the most of it and visited Pollys Flash (aka Kingsdown Flash) in Abram, Lancashire in search of a Bitterling to add to my species tally for the year.

Pollys Flash – my swim for the evening – I fished only 4 metres out between the reeds and the lily pads

I set up nearest to the car park (lazyness) but then the wind was right in my face blowing food down the lake into my swim (craftyness)

Before I’d even wet a line the bailiff was around asking me if I had an unhooking mat! and I was sitting no more than 10 yards away from the rules board — oops

Abram Fishing Club — DON’T forget your unhooking mat !!

To my shame I didn’t – and my protestations that I wouldn’t need one, as I was fishing for a species that grew to a maximum length of 2 inches fell on deaf ears…. I wasn’t allowed to fish without a mat. I’d even taken my mat out of my bag as I was leaving home, thinking that it was a waste of time taking it with me.

Seeing my rig – a size 22 hook and the tiniest piece of bread punch I think the man felt sorry for me, and he offered to go home (as he lived just around the corner) and bring me a mat from his garage. You might feel, as I did that this was a bit of overkill, but he assured me that using that rig and bait, in that swim I was likely to hook into a bream and he didn’t want me to put the fish at risk.

Fair play to the man…. I waited for him to nip home and bring me a mat before fishing..

Tiny hooks and tiny bait are needed to catch tiny fish

First cast I hooked a Bitterling !! I should have put it on the mat for a photo as it would have been funny, but in my excitement I forgot.

Anyway — here is a pic of the smallest and prettiest freshwater fish in the UK…

Bitterling – lovely aquamarine sheen along its flank — one of the UKs prettiest fish

Bitterling are a very unusual fish, in that they lay their eggs inside live swan mussel shells, and you can see the spawning protuberance in red which they use to deposit their eggs in the mussels in the photo above.

I was delighted to catch one so quickly and thought that I was going to be in for an evenings bagging up on mini fish.

Sadly that wasn’t to be.

Next bite nearly an hour later saw my elastic stretching right out and I landed this nice 3lb Bream — now I see why the bailiff was so insistent on me having a mat. It was a great scrap on very light tackle.

A nice 3lb bream – on very light gear

And then, apart from half a dozen small roach that was it for the evening

I was highly delighted to add two new species to my list for 2020 – Bitterling and Bream and it takes my total species on The Anglers Challenge up to 11 for the year.

Next weekend – I plan to have a nice long drive,,, and to try for a species I’ve never caught (or even seen) before. Hopefully I will squeeze in a midweek evening session somewhere — we’re in June now and I haven’t caught a tench yet …

Scott first contacted me back in 2012 when I was doing my first species hunt, as I had caught Bitterling and Pumpkinseeds and he was keen to find out where he could catch them and what methods worked best. Scott has carried on his species hunting now has a really impressive tally from both UK and overseas…. well worth having a read through his blog …. you will never go on holiday without a rod again i promise you.

Anyway back to recent events … As I’ve said before I’m livening up my fishing by restarting my fishing list and starting again from scratch. This means I get the great fun of catching new and old species again, and scratching them off a list (ahhh…. simple pleasures)… Here is a link to my latest up to date list which shows the species I am targeting and when and where I’ve caught them. The list is for UK waters only.. I might start up a new list for “holiday fish” when I get round to it.

So, now my target species include both freshwater and salt species I have the great excuse to get out on the briny again.

I’ve had a small SIB for quite a few years. A SIB is a soft Inflatable Boat that can be rolled up and stored in a bag when not in use – as opposed to RIB – rigid inflatable boat – which has a rigid hull and can’t be easily transported or stored.

I bought the SIB to use for maintenance work on club ponds. I’ve only ever taken it out on salt water once before, and that experience put me off a bit, as my boat partner for the day discovered he suffered from sea sickness about 10 minutes into the trip which then had to be aborted. The boat is also quite heavy to handle, and carrying the boat and engine across a soft sand and shingle beach proved to be very hard work, knackering actually.

So after a gap of 12 months of not using the boat on sea I decided to have another try with a different fishing partner last weekend. And after a bit of “Facebook research” I discovered that by adding detachable wheels to the back of the boat I could move it from car boot to sea much more easily, and also discovered a number of easily accessible free to use slipways which put an end to trudging across soft shingle and sand dunes to access the sea.

All set up and ready to go – its much easier dragging the boat across the sand using the detachable wheels than carrying everything by hand.

Anyway – we set off at 4pm and with a high tide expected at 7.15pm we agreed to fish until 9pm so that the tide would still be close to the slipway and save us dragging the boat up across the flat soft sands.

As this was a second attempt at a first fishing trip, we set our sights quite low, going no more than 1km off shore before dropping anchor.

We had all the appropriate safety kit, life jackets, hand-held VHF radio, and a mate who was fishing on the beach who could keep us in sight all the time just in case something bad happened.

As it happened, we heard on the radio whilst driving to Cleveleys that a fishing boat had sunk earlier that morning with two angler rescued and another lost presumed drowned. As these tragic events had only taken place a few hours earlier less than 5 miles away it didn’t take long before we had an overhead visit from the coastguard rescue helicopter and an RNLI fast boat just checking that we were OK. A quick chat on the VHF radio, the sight of our anchor, life jackets etc they soon left us in peace to continue our day. Very sad that someone has lost their life in pursuit of a few fish, my heart goes out to the mans family.

There’s a chopper up there coming to see us.Quickly followed by a visit from the RNLI inshore lifeboat

Anyway – about 4.15pm we dropped anchor and our lines went over the side.

Andy my fishing partner for the day dropped a string of feathers over the back of the boat whilst I was fiddling about baiting up a simple two hook flapper rig with black lugworm. He had a couple of rattles but they came to nothing.

I dropped my line down and was immediately aware that there was quite a strong tidal flow from right to left, and that i needed to increase the weight of lead I was using from 2 to 4oz in order to hold bottom. Weights changed I immediately hooked into a double of dabs. A species I’ve caught many times before but not in the last few months so they were of course very much welcomed as a new tick on my list. As was the inevitable dog fish that followed.

A DabA Lesser Spotted Dog Fish

By now I was catching a fish a dab or a dog a chuck on the two hook flapper rig, but Andy had got bored of the small stuff and had baited up another rod with big raw freshwater prawns. It didn’t take more than 10 minutes before he had a solid take, and he hooked into something that started to take plenty of line off his reel. After a short sharp hard scrap a lovely Smooth Hound was boated, and I started to think about trying out a different technique to see if I could catch something bigger too.

Andy with an 8lb Smooth Hound

So I set up another rod with a running ledger, a 5oz weight and a whole squid pennel rigged – maybe catch a ray, a bass or a hound.

Squid on a Pennel Rig – I need to buy some bigger hooks the lower hook was an 3/0 and was masked by the bait…. maybe a 5/0 next time.

Just like Andy a short time earlier, I cast down tide and to one side of the boat, and I could feel the lead bouncing across the hard sandy sea bed. Then tap tap bang, my rod tip slammed over and I hooked into a fish that set off like an express train. Thankfully, hooks, knots, line all held together and I soon boated this lovely Smooth Hound. My first ever hound – so a totally new fish species for me and I was thrilled.

My first Smooth Hound

We both fished big baits on Pennel Rigs until the bites started to dry up at high tide. Andy lost count of how many he caught between 5lb and 9lb. I had 4 of them to about 6lb on squid. Most of Andys fish were larger than mine and fell to whole raw large freshwater prawn or peeler crab baits.

I’m a bit mean when it comes to sea fishing baits, I think bait prices are extortionate especially peeler crabs which go for £1 each. So it really made me laugh when Andy said he was going to go for a double figure fish and lashed 3 crabs to a big hook, only to get a bite and then reel in a Dab on the end …. £3 for a Dab? It certainly made me chuckle.

As all this was going on…. I hooked into what I thought was at first a big dog fish – however as I got it closer to the side of the boat I realised I’d caught my first ever Tope. Not the biggest of Tope by any stretch of the imagination at only 2ft long, but a Tope is a Tope and it was a shark with teeth!

A Tope – with teeth !!

Wow — what a great day we were having… catching far more fish than if we had been standing on the beach with our beach casters (Phil who had remained ashore had only caught a single solitary Plaice – and no other bites)

However once the tide turned at 7pm, and the tidal flow from right to left slowed down, so did the bites from the larger fish. Andy persisted and had a couple more dog fish and hounds, but I switched back to the lugworm and two hook flapper rig and immediately started to catch Dabs, Whiting and Dogfish again

It was great fun, but with as the sun started to set, and the tide uncovered the base of the slipway we headed back home Happy, smelly and exhausted.

What a great afternoons fishing…. I’m getting to quite like sea fishing.

The End Of A Great Day

I’ve had a look at the tide times and heights for next weekend – and there are going to be a few really high and low tides on Friday and Saturday — I think I will come back with the kids and fishing nets to see what we can find at very low water.

Am now up to 9 species on my new list – I wonder how many is a reasonable target for 2020 ? I’m thinking 50 is possible with not too much effort.

Still off work on furlough and in charge of entertainment and education of my two poor kids.

So… yesterday looked like a great opportunity to spend some time on the beach at Cleveleys, high tide 3.15pm, and a chance to further indoctrinate the youngsters in a bit of fishing.

We picked up some bait (black lug) from the local tackle shop, and had a rod in by 2.15….. and then we waited, and waited. A small tide, scorching sun and the kids enjoyed playing and throwing in stones far more than fishing.

Fun Waiting For Bites On A Lovely Hot DayMy Little Apprentice

Then my wife turned up with fish and chips, the tide went out without us getting a bite and we just kicked back and enjoyed the day.

A Fish At Last

I didn’t feel too bad as there were more anglers out on the beach than I’ve ever seen before in my life… and we weren’t in a prime location…. those in the prime locations also didn’t catch..

At 8pm … Mrs Fishing Fiend returned home with the kids, and I met up with a couple of socially distanced pals to fish the low tide.

I’ve never fished a summer low tide here before, so it was good to meet up with someone with plenty of local knowledge as the tide goes out a long way, and there are plenty of gullies to endanger anglers if they back fill behind you as the tide rises.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, enjoyed the company, and enjoyed the blank saving micro whiting that committed hari kari on my rig just as it was turning dark.

It was a great evening to be out, nice and warm, a lovely calm sea, and a big learning experience as my mate Andy who is a local venue expert showed us how to do it as he caught this lovely 8lb+ Stary Smooth Hound using peeler crab and a VERY long cast.

Another Sunset Shot – Usually Followed By My Latest Innovative Excuse For BlankingAndy With An 8lb 12oz Smooth Hound Taken At Distance On CrabA Welcome Whiting

Being shown the ropes by a venue regular is a massive help, and I now know whats necessary for me to get in among the fish here.

Anyway — I’ve added another species to my newly restarted species list – a Whiting – I’ve caught many of them before plenty bigger than this one, but maybe none of them were as welcomed.

I will be back soon and see if I can catch my first ever smooth hound… I just need to take the kids out to catch some crab baits and remember to take my chest waders (essential kit for low water fishing at this venue).

With kids in tow (I’m furloughed whilst my wife if doing double shifts for the NHS) I took the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone – a long scooter ride along the sea front with the kids, followed by an hour fishing each side of high tide on the sea front at New Brighton, a great way to tire them (and me) out.

I managed to pick up a wrap of black lug from the local tackle shop, and decided to fish a two hook flapper scratching rig set up with small size 2 hooks and 1/3rd of a worm sections,,, hoping to get quantity rather than quality.

I didn’t bother with my full beach caster set up of 14ft rods and big reels – far too heavy for the kids to handle, so I used a 1.75lb test curve barbel rod and a trusty Okuma IBF50 reel loaded with 15lb braid. A two ounce lead saw a 50 yard chuck put me into the slight channel that runs in front and I was happy as I watched my lead and bait sail off into the distance. My first cast in nearly 3 months. No point in fishing two rods — when I have to keep my eye on two kids.

Nothing for an hour and 45 minutes apart from crabbed out baits – then just as I was cursing my luck and thinking a blank was on the cards – my rod tip wrapped round and I struck into a nice lively fish.

As I was with the kids – I let Tommy reel it in, and he wasn’t too keen to handle the fish as he saw the spikes/spines of his little schoolie bass… but little Kate was far braver and got the glory shot with the fish.

A little school bass

They were very disappointed to see me throw it back in – as they wanted it for their tea – but this fish needed to grow another 4 inches before it was any where near being a keeper.

Nevertheless – general delight all round at our success, especially as anglers to our left and right were packing up without a bite.

I’ve had plenty of bass over the years, nothing spectacularly big but a fish is a fish no matter what size. And it’s a new fish to add to my newly restarted fish species list. My new tally now stands at 3 species !

Am off for another beach session tomorrow at Rossall – target species Stary Smooth Hounds, and anything that swims really.

I’ve got my eye on a bit of freshwater fishing the week after, my local waters have taken a bit of hammer since fishing has been allowed again, and I decided to take my time getting back on local venues.

Fishing Kings Parade New Brighton

Tight lines to all of you out there, and lets have a great rest of 2020.

Ha Ha – silly me – Did I really go to bed last night thinking that I was going to have a great opening day.

Whilst I was asleep – the heavens opened and local rivers were unfishable by the time I woke with at least 3ft on the Irwell and 2ft on the other smaller local streams.

What a disappointment.

So – with me being the martyr that I am, I took the family for a nice country walk instead. I should never have let my wife choose the destination – as she chose to visit Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge – and I had to spend the day next to some classic Northern pocket water… deeply tea stained by moorland peat, beautiful Hebden Water — chocca with Spotties

Beautiful Hebden Water at Hardcastle Crags – a great value day ticket stretch – I wish I wish I could have had a cast or two.

Arriving back home late afternoon – I threw the wife and kids out of the car and hotfooted off to the River Roch near Bury, hoping that the rivers would have fined down a bit during the day.

Sadly not, but seeing as though I’d made the effort to get there I decided to have a few casts anyway, and I worked my way up this run.

River Roch near Bury – this run is usually good for a few fish

I used my go to combo of a scruffy black spider on dropper and an Irwell Imp on point. But the river was tinged brown with urban runoff, still 18 inches up and faintly wiffy of something I’d rather not talk about in polite company.

Irwell Flies – a scruffy black spider and an Irwell Imp

I worked my way up the run, and did well to avoid the rocks thrown at me by local “youths” but the fish showed no interest. Rather than hang about and be used as a human coconut shy I made my way around the corner to fish the Irwell at Dumers Lane.

When I got to the bigger Irwell – the water was still 2ft up, and raging through. Rather than waste my time wafting a fly around I just had a walk 500 yards downstream and back, and what I saw broke the heart of an Irwell loving fisherman.

Wet wipes and tampons adorning all the trees and riverbanks, and massive amounts of fly tipped rubbish on the river banks. The people of Bury should be ashamed of themselves, the Environment Agency should be ashamed of themselves and our local water utility company should hang their heads in shame as they make massive profits but leave our river in such a disgraceful condition.

As the coarse fishing season on my local rivers finishes and one chapter closes another trout season opens and a new chapter begins.

Fishing Fiend Junior V3 has been showing lots of interest in accompanying Daddy on the river bank this spring.

Not that I’ve been encouraging her interest (pink rod, pink reel, pink line, pink flies etc) but tomorrow morning, weather permitting, I shall be accompanied by an excited 5 year old casting for her first trout.

The weather cleared for a day so I managed a session fishing the Mersey Estuary in Liverpool.

Low tide in the morning saw me fishing the low water mark at Perch Rock. Two rods out, one baited up with squid and black lug wraps on a pulley pennel rig, and the other rod a two hook flapper rig with squid heads as bait.

Perch Rock – A good low water markFishing at Perch RockSquid and black lug wrap

Nothing – I fished two hours down and an hour back up — not a tap, rap or knock apart from this rogue crab

Rogue Crab

I’d never fished this spot before, so it was quite an experience being at the mouth of the Mersey fishing as huge ships passed close by.

As the tide rose and pushed me up the beach and off the mark I decided to use up the last of my bait back at Mariners Wharf the scene of a couple of recent blank sessions…. Mariners Wharf lived up to my expectations and I had another bite free hour enjoying the view.

Mariners Wharf Liverpool

I’m sitting here this evening typing this up, I can hear the wind howling through the trees in my back garden and the rain starting to hit the windows…. is this bad weather never going to end ?? Is this run of bite free fishing ever going to end ?

I suppose now that I’m doing a bit more sea fishing I’m going to have to slip in a few more nautical turns of phrase.

So as far as my fishing luck is going – I’m waiting for the tide to turn…

I recently read the great John Wilson autobiography “60 Years A Fisherman” – and at the end of his colourful lifes tale he concludes the book with two last pages consisting of a list of fish that he had caught – both fresh and saltwater.

John had managed to catch 217 species of fish from 22 different countries… an amazing feat.

101 from Freshwater and 116 from Saltwater

It got me thinking about my past challenges of trying to catch as many freshwater species as I could in 12 months (my best is 31 for those who are interested).

I’ve never really recorded sea species before, or logged the weird, wonderful and colourful fish I’ve caught on holiday, so haven’t the first clue as to how many species I’ve actually caught in my fishing life time so far.

And another thing – just how many species are out there to catch ?

Other “Bloggers Challenges” I’ve seen, anglers list various types of rainbow trout (tiger, blue, leopard etc) as different species – also carp – (common, leather, mirror, koi etc) where to me – these are just freaks of cross breeding – and should be just classed as a single species… and in coarse angling I can’t see how anyone can claim various cyprinid hybrids as species too eg, roach/bream/rudd etc.

So I’ve decided to start having bit of fun with a species challenge again. No time limit this time – but I will stick to UK only species – one that are listed by the UK Record Fish Committee. I’ve made a little chart below which I will keep updated and do a little write up on each species as I knock them off the list. I’m going to start recording my holiday fish too on a separate list – just for forms sake.

As it happens – as I am sure you will work your way down the list to see how many of these you have caught – I’ve managed to knock off 59 species in my angling life… how many have you got ? I’ve numbered mine down the list as it goes… I’m resetting to zero – and look forwards to sharing each capture with you in future…

I can’t remember a month like it – rivers high, winds strong, tides all wrong, fish hooked and lost – just piss off February 2020 I hope I never experience another month like it.

It all started to go wrong at the start of the month when I managed to snatch a few hours on the lake behind my house. I had an hours circuit of the lake, flinging out a YoZuri floating minnow and had two pike roll over / attack the lure during the final moments of retrieve but neither time did I get the hooks to hold.

Another hours walk around the same lake the next day saw me change lure to a size 5 Ondex Red Tag – this time I only got one take from an unseen but solid fish. I was with my daughter Kate and thought it would be a good time for her to play and land her first decent pike, but as I turned round to call her over the fish shed the hooks. Gutted wasn’t the word it was a much bigger fish than usual from this prolific “jacks” pond.

Weather and work then put a halt to any further piscatorial activity – but did allow me time to thoroughly research the fishing in and around Minehead which was my half term destination with the family.

Online – it looked idylic – a fishing tackle shop on the harbour, and beaches that regularly produce decent conger, codling and rays during winter months, and a variety of skippered charter boats from Minehead Harbour. – What could go wrong ?? Ha ha..

So – on arrival at Butlins – I found it difficult to extract myself from the bosom of my lovely little family. Until Mrs Fishingfiend noticed my face getting longer and longer as the days passed. So… with spousal consent I was let off the leash for a few hours one afternoon. Tide was all wrong, tackle shop was shut for the day, the pebble beach turned into ankle breaking boulder beach, and using a whole squid on a pulley pennel rig – I launched a 6oz lead out as far as I could into the teeth of a Bristol Channel Force 7 hooley.

Now can you imagine my surprise when after about 45 minutes I got a tap tap tap on my rod tip.

Here’s a few photos of this lovely fishing spot (did I mention it started to chuck it down as I was tackling up ?) and then I’ll continue with the rest of this lack of fishy tale.

Gasworks Beach Minehead – ankle breaking cobblesA grand day to be out on the beach fishing

Anyway – thats enough of the view. My rod tip was tapping away so I struck and could immediately feel a good solid resistance. Yessss I’m in. I played the fish for a good 5 minutes and got it in to the surf/boulder zone.. It was a lovely ray, a good fish pushing double figures.. and then it disappeared from view and everything locked up solid. My rig snagged up tight in the rocks. I let the line go slack for a good while but to no avail. The tide was coming in fast so I cut the line and tied it to a rock – hoping that the fish might free itself and I would be able to hand line it in, or in worst case scenario – i could come back as the tide was ebbing and collect both fish and rig. I came back early that evening to check as the tide was going out – and there was no sign of line, rig or fish.

I carried on fishing until my allotted time was up – without any more fish action, but lost another rig at the end of my last cast and was pretty cold and wet by the time I retreated back to the car. All in all it was a pretty crap session.

Next day – the weather improved a little. So I again got the nod to have a few hours on the rods.

It was high tide at 5.30pm as i set up at 3.30pm on Blue Anchor Beach. This location had a flat sandy bay backed by a steep shingle bank – a classic high tide only mark. But with there being only sand in front of me I was safe in the knowledge I wasn’t going to lose much tackle to the sea. Again I used a single rod, squid as bait to a size 4/0 pulley pennel rig.

Lets cut to the chase… there were 4 other anglers on the beach – so I blanked in good company. Not a bite, a twitch or a sniff.

I packed up just after high tide just before yet another squall passed over…

A Squall Is Arriving – A sunset photo is a sure sign of a blogger having a blank !!

A good angler never loses his mojo though – so despite my lack of success I took the opportunity to take my family out for a bit of fresh air and a country walk to help them escape the wonderland that is Butlins at Minehead.

A short trip out to Bossington Beach (another local mark of note) was our destination. The wind took our legs away as we crossed over the top of the shingle beach bar. I took a couple of quick photos as an “aide de memoir” for any future trips to Butlins – but my daughter Kate who was celebrating her 5th birthday (take note of fairy face paint and fairy dress in photo below) soon persuaded Daddy that it was too cold and windy to explore any further.

The Birthday Girl out with Daddy checking out future fishing spotsBossington Beach – Certainly Worth A Cast Or Two If You Are Nearby

And that was it. Piss off February 2020 – the worst fishing month of my life.

I did of course bag up as all good anglers do – and the kids had a great time catching some new species too

In past years I’ve had a lot of fun trying to catch as many freshwater species as I can in a calendar year. I have a list of 46 freshwater species and I think 2014 was my best year when I knocked 33 of them off the list.

As much of my fishing this year is going to be done during family sea side breaks and with the children in tow there’s not much chance me being able to do a targeted species hunt and I will be having to get my fishing in whenever the opportunity arises.

So this year it makes sense to change my targets a little and include sea species… this makes the potentially huge and an impossible task… so my plan for 2020 is to catch as many species as I possibly can – both fresh and saltwater and to have as much fun as I can in doing so.

So far, including the fish I’ve caught on holiday in the Canary Islands I’ve managed to bag 11 species.
9 saltwater and 2 freshwater.
I will keep a running tally at the bottom of each blog post until the end of the year
I wonder what a realistic target is ?? 40 species, 50, who knows?

One thing I do know ,,, is that I’m going to make a great effort to improve my photography skills. Fish are beautiful things, with many of them having surprising hidden colours if you look hard enough… I’m hoping to upgrade my skills from being a snapper to being a photographer too. A busy year !

I caught some lovely small roach from a local canal recently as I’d promised to “bang out” half a dozen live baits for a pike session later that afternoon with a mate.

There hadn’t been a hard frost the night before, but the weather was typical winter Manchester, cold hard and grey. Conditions that a lot of anglers struggle with (noted by their absence from the bank)

So on arrival I set up 4 sections of pole, a 2g pencil shaped float, a size 20 hook – fed an almond sized lump of sloppy liquidised bread and sat back and waited for the fish to wake up for breakfast.

It took longer than I thought as this method of fishing can often produce instant bites – and after 15 bite free minutes I was started to have a bit of a panic that my bravado of “oh don’t worry I’ll bang out a few live baits in double quick time” was going to result in me having egg on my face.

Much to my relief, my float gave a micro dip — so I lifted and brought in a lovely little roach of about half an ounce.

The session then continued as expected with a bite every put in, using my smallest size of bread punch, and within another 15 minutes the larger 3 and 4oz roach had started pushing the micro roach out of the swim. If i had continued fishing for the rest of the morning I would have added a bit of crushed hemp to the liquidised bread and usually within the first half hour or so the roach of 8 to 12oz would again move in and bully out the smaller fish. But this was not to be, I only needed a dozen fish to share between the three of us pike fishing later that day.

The roach were in superb condition – with a lovely iridescent purple/blue sheen to their flanks, a bright red eye and not a scale out of place. Check them out in the pictures below. Small – perfectly formed – absolute beauties.

Roach – a perfect fishHere’s looking at you kid

So – I took tremendous enjoyment from catching these small roach, but it got me thinking that only through having years of experience did I catch them. Casting my mind back to when I was a youngster I would have been on a certain blank session on a cold January morning like today. The reason why I caught over a dozen fish in less than an hour was quite simple. I used a float and shotting pattern that is incredibly sensitive and a hook length and hook that were a match for a roaches eagle eyes in the gin clear water.

I see so many anglers both young and old with an inch of thick float showing, hook lengths like tow rope and a hook big enough to be fishing paste on a commercial in summer. I with tackle shops would stop selling this stuff – or at least advise the anglers buying these floats on how to set them up properly.

So back to the fishing.. I then drove the 15 minutes further up the canal to our usual haunt to meet up with Phil and his new mate Dean. A new mate ??? is this some sort of piscatorial affair – should I carry on and ignore this turn of events – or demand a fishing divorce ? maybe a period of reflection and mate/marriage guidance is necessary – we obviously need some sort of counselling – probably best done in a pub over half a dozen pints lol

Anyway back to the pike fishing. I know a lot of people think that live baiting is a cruel form of our sport, but its something that’s never really worried me. I stopped using treble hooks many years ago, and when I live bait I used a single circle hook through the top lip of the bait. If I catch I catch…. if not the live bait is released and swims off to fight another day.

I also think that live bait out catches any other pike fishing method – and I’m out to catch fish.

I met up with Phil and Dean further up the canal and set up my my usual rig – see pic below. I’ve started using these Size 2 Sakuma Circle Hooks – and again I caught a nice fish with the hook lodged perfectly in the top of the fishes mouth.

A Nice Canal Pike

Its a pity the sun wasn’t shining as the gold flecks around a pikes gill plates reflect spectacularly in the suns rays.My Live Bait Kit is pretty standard – a bung, a weight, a wire trace (essential) and a single size 2 circle hook

As you can see – it didn’t take too long for the canal pike to oblige – and itch had been scratched – and after spending the rest of the morning chatting it was soon time to go home to the family for the rest of the day.

My next few trips out are going to be in search of cod – as its that time of year. There are quite a few marks to try on the West Lancashire Coast – and I’m also going to book myself onto a charter boat out of Fleetwood… looking forwards to sharing a few posts with you soon

Over the years I’ve had many happy holidays on the Spanish Island of Feurteventura, but have done very little fishing whilst there. The harbours are full of mullet which grow to huge proportions fed on the bread and pellets thrown to them by tourists, and the harbour walls home to a huge variety of brightly coloured semi tropical fish – but sadly most of these accessible areas are off limits to fishermen.

The only time I’ve ever taken fishing tackle with me to Fuerteventura was on my last visit in 2016 – but despite picking up a little local knowledge as to the hots pots for catching Bonito and Bluefish from the shore – the pressure of having a young family ( 12 months and 3 and a half years old) meant that the suggestion of going fishing for any length of time was met with a death stare from my better half. I did manage half an afternoons fishing (spectacularly unsuccessful) but at least i had the right lure, the right method and the right location – it was just that the time of day, the tides and the wind direction were all not in my favour – you can have a read about it here http://fishingfiend.net/holiday-fishing-fuerteventura/

Of course I ended up catching nothing but a cold, but did learn a lot about what to do and what not to do when restricted to short fishing sessions on holiday. I also had a great time messing about in rock pools with my young son Tommy catching all sorts of little fish, urchins, shrimps etc. Hopefully passing on the fishing bug to him at an early age.

Happy memories from 2016 – sunshine, rock pools, fishing net

So fast forwards to December 2019 – it had been raining (or it felt like this anyway) for months, the weather was miserable, we had been expecting to spend some family cash on a house extension that never happened, and we were fed up. I asked Mrs FishingFiend how she would like to spend her birthday (1st Jan) and her reply was simply “on a beach!”

I didn’t need any more prompting, and with the thoughts of TUNA FROM THE SHORE” pinging about at the back of my head – I suggested that a return to Fuerteventura and a return to the lovely family (FISHING) friendly resort of Caleta De Fuste…. not only does it have everything for a young family it also has a fishing tackle shop with a very friendly owner called Aram who has a full range of tackle, bait and is free with passing on (some) of his local knowledge.

So… a quick online search for a last minute holiday over the New Year period ensued and by very good fortune we found somewhere within budget. Yee Haaa.. A quick chat with the missus about taking some tackle and being set free from family duties and YESSSSSSS space was agreed for two travel rods and a bag of kit.

I played my hand of cards.. no fishing suggested for the first few days of the holiday, and lots of family time… but then a quick nip into the tackle shop to buy a new lure set the agenda for the remainder of the holiday.

The coast around Caleta De Fuste is very rocky, and in places there is deep water very close to shore. These deeper areas mean that Barracuda, Blue Fish and Bonito are within casting distance of the shore – and if you take a look at videos on Youtube like this it really wets the appetite and makes you want to target these fish. The location where this video was taken is actually from the rocks in the centre of the resort. And only a 10 minute walk from where we were staying.

So, with the hope/expectation/ridiculous dream that I was going to catch something special I splashed out 22 euro on an imported Japanese Yo-Zuri heavy sinking minnow from the local tackle shop. It certainly caught the eye… but would it catch any fish ?

Caught my eye but didn’t catch any fish

Well the answer is that it caught my eye, but not the attention of any fish. I fished this lure for an hour off a rocky point behind the Elba hotel without a touch. I’ll get my excuses in early again – wrong state of tide, wrong time of day lol. However, after being given an hour of peace and quiet the kids turned up and I received the scorn of my family for not catching. Especially when my 4 year old daughter managed to catch a wrasse from a rock pool with her bare hands. Ego shattered – I retired a beaten man to a local bar, bought a beer and watched the kids playing in a park.

To be truthful I was more than a bit peed off that I hadn’t had a touch… especially as there are so many fish on view in and around the harbour (no fishing zone) and on the main beach (another no fishing zone) where there are so many fish that if you chuck in a bit a bread you can have 100s of them swimming around you within minutes.

Caleta Beach Fishing – 100s of mullet, bream and derbios

So back to plan B brought a small telescopic travel rod with me, a small reel with 6lb braid, some 3lb flouro and a box of shads, dropshot lures and my secret weapon Isome Worm.

The next day, the family fancied a bus trip down the Island to the next main town called Gran Tarajal – and I stashed some kit away in the family beach bag.

An old telescopic rod and my shad kit

After a walk around the rather nice but dull port of Gran Tarajal, we hopped onto another bus to visit another little town called Playitas… Playitas interested me because it has a little pier/wharf where it looks as though fishing would be possible from the end, and also from some of the cliffs nearby.

I was right…. and quite delighted when we got there as it looked like a perfect spot for a bit of light lure fishing. First cast resulted in this little ornate wrasse.

Ornate Wrasse

And then came a succession of small fish to a variety of jigs and on the dropshot with Isome Worm

A Common Comber

The kids really loved sitting down and catching these pretty fish

A Painted Comber ?

Especially when I started to catch a succession of these small Madeira Rock Fish…. which I didn’t realise had poisonous spines until someone told me later… They were pretty though

Madeira Rock Fish

The best method by far was by using a small piece of Isome Worm on the dropshot rig – the fish absolutely threw themselves at it. I also had some other flavoured worm that was bright red in colour but the fish wouldn’t touch it.

The fish didn’t really go for the red worm, even when cut into tiny slivers,,, but loved the lighter brown Isome WormJust sat on the end of the pier… loads of fishAnother view of Playitas PierThere were rock ledges nearby which I am sure would have been good tooA pretty little Anular Bream ?

Now that the kids had caught a few fish,, they fancied having a go for some more. So the next day we headed off to Puerto Del Rosario the Islands capital, to spend a bit of time on the beach and also so that Tommy and I could get our Saturday fix of football when we watch Rosario beat another local team 3-1 (2 sendings off, 10 yellow cards, a dodgy ref, and a very poor standard of football) which was great entertainment.

I had a look on Google Maps and it looked like there was good fishing into snag free water at the end of the rock groyne that protected the beach. See pic below

I fished off the end of this rock groyne while the kids played on the beach

Tommy and I had half an hour on the jig head shads me casting and him retrieving but we couldn’t get a touch, but as soon as I swapped over to drop shot Isome worm we quickly caught half a dozen of these small fish which I haven’t a clue what they were but have been told that they are

Pandora ?

The rest of the holiday was spent playing with the kids on the beach at Caleta but I did manage an hour off the low rock ledge to the right hand side of the beach and had this lovely fish (again I have been told that it is a Dusky Grouper) on a small shad.

A Dusky GrouperMy fishing perch at high tide…. I got told off by the lifeguards to fishing the wrong side (Left side) of the beach demarcation bouys… so packed up

On the last day of the holiday, the kids fancied having a bit more fishing so I thought it would be good fun to have a see what was swimming in some of the bigger rock pools. The area north of the harbour in Caleta De Fuste has some smashing rock pools that are exposed at low tide… though great care needs to be taken with the kids not to let them too close to the sea as there was quite a strong swell.

Swimming in the rock poolsFishing in some of the othersRock Pools turn anglers of all ages back into kidsfish coming in thick and fastA Rock Pool Blenny ?Rockpool Blenny ?Madeira Gobies were plentiful and loved Isome worm fished on a size 16 hook with a single swan shot as weight – we caught loads of them in double quick timeProbably my most successful family holiday fishing trip ever…. the kids loved the short sessions and catching lots of colourful fish

So with a heavy heart – we went back to the airport, boarded our plane and returned home. I still haven’t managed to catch a large fish from the shores of Fuerteventura but I guess I never will when family time is the priority. Some early morning or late evening sessions would be necessary and plenty of time would need to be devoted to it…. which just doesn’t fit well with a family holiday with young children. Nevertheless it was a great way to start the year and I’m really looking forwards to more fishing adventures both alone and with my little fishing apprentices in 2020

Life sometimes takes over, and I don’t have as much time or inclination to write about my fishing trips as much I used to… that doesn’t mean to say I’m not going fishing anymore… I most certainly am … just in a slightly different manner than I used to before.

Most of my fishing over the last 6 months has been with family and friends, fitting in with others plans etc… And having a lovely young family I’ve no doubts that these demands on my will continue into the future… work, family life, kids football practice and regular Saturday morning matches, running and other family stuff is limiting my time on the bank.

Anyway enough waffle/excuses – here’s what I’ve been up to since my last proper post in June

In July – I organised a little fish-in on one of my favourite sections of the River Irwell – the river fished well for those who took part – with nearly everyone catching small roach, dace and chublets, and I had a couple of nice trout too – all on trotted stick float maggot.

Towards the end of July, I joined in the celebrations of my mothers 80th Birthday at the Low Wood Hotel at Windermere in the Lake District…. again family time as in the ascendancy but i did manage to have a few casts of the lure rod off the end of the pier outside the hotel, and managed to hook into a perch nearly every other cast. Nothing huge, with the fish all in the 6 to 8oz bracket.

Windermere Perch

My next trip out was entirely different – at the start of August I had an odd day at work, a mornings meeting in Crewe followed by an evening meeting in Liverpool… so naturally I filled in the gap with a little cheeky session on the Shropshire Union Canal at Audlem… I’d never visited this bit of canal before.. I just had a look on google map and thought I’ll try there….

So i pulled up in the car park of the Bridge Inn, Audlem – payed for a few hours parking and had a nice session using hemp and corn. Sadly there was plenty of boat traffic but happily the roach were obliging – and I managed to catch a dozen or so decent fish up to about 12oz.

Shropshire Union Canal AudlemPlenty like this to around 12oz

I packed up after a few hours – some great roach fishing from a new spot for me.

Next up was a long weekend with the family to Holyhead in North Wales.. I only managed a single sort session at the Trearddur Bay flag pole. Using the remnants of a tub of denrobena worms, I set up a simple two hook paternoster rig and cast out into the bay. I was amazed by the results, school bass, pollack and about 3 or 4 species of little wrasse. It was a bite a chuck and I was smashed up twice!. I’d never considered using garden worms before for sea fishing but its quite obvious that the fish don’t mind

A Nice Little Pollack – one of many fish on dendrobenas

Alas family commitments that weekend only allowed for a single short session – I fully intend to come back to this spot next summer with a slightly beefier set up and see if I can hook into the much bigger fish that were smashing me up.

So October half term was spent on a Caravan Break to Devon Cliffs Holiday Park in Devon. As my in-laws were joining us I had free reign to do a bit more fishing. The weather was terrible for most of the time we were there but I managed a couple of good sessions. A nice afternoon on the beach at Budleigh Salterton on lures we caught some mackerel and garfish.

Budleigh Salterton MackerelKate is now 4 and she has loves her fishing with DadddyBudleigh Garfish

Next up was a day trip to Brixham.. and ” I was amazed to find boats offering mackerel trips” lol.. which i suggested to my wife that the kids might like….

Just like a well baited swim and well presented bait… she took it hook line and sinker … so an afternoons mackerel bashing ensued..

I was delighted to catch my first ever pilchard ! – an added bonus

Brixham Pilchard

Plus then of course the mackerel arrived and we filled half a bucket full

Kate Mackerel Fishing

Using the mackerel we caught – I then had a few sessions fishing into the night off the beach at Budleigh Salterton again…. Using my two 15 foot surf casters, and 2 hook flapper rigs I banged out strips of mackerel into the distance and sat back and waiting to see if anything was biting.

A nice evening on the beach

It took about 30 seconds before my rod tips began to rattle, I thought it was crabs at first as the bites were just little rattles rather than more powerful pulls on the rod tips. I soon realised that Budleigh Salterton after dark is Pout city as I caught dozens of the cheeky little bait robbers. I soon gave up using 2 rods as the bites were just too frequent, and I was getting double hookups nearly every cast. And then eventually got fed up of catching Pout themselves, so rigged up a pulley rig with a dead pout on the end to see if could catch anything bigger

And it didnt take long to get a really positive pull on the rod tip. The culprit was of course a bloody dog fish…. not a bad one… but it signaled time to pack up and go home. That was the end of my fishing for this trip

Kate with a decent dog fish

I then managed a few sessions on the Fylde coast at Rossall with my mate Phil, but sea conditions and tides weren’t in our favour and we didn’t catch very much apart from some 3 bearded rockling and a couple of dabs and plaice.

Rods out but not much action at RossallThis Plaice tasted lovely

And I finished the year by having a few sessions on Drinkwater Park Lake, but despite using a variety of lures, couldn’t get any takes,, and this despite taking my “lucky charm” with me

So the year ended with weeks of poor weather,, and I just didn’t fancy getting out fishing that much… and the year ended as a pretty damp squib.

To sumarise the year,,, I got out a lot, but mostly with the kids. I caught lots of fish, including a few brand new species (Pout and Pilchard) but other than a HUGE tench which I lost at the net, I didn’t manage any fish of note.

Imagine my delight when Mrs FishingFiend suggested we visit the Canary Islands for New Year …. 🙂

I wimped out of fishing today. A slight tinge of boxing day hangover, and pissing down rain persuaded me to have a day indoors. (hence this post – and another to come shortly reviewing my fishing in 2019)

Mrs Fishing Fiend has been complaining recently about the smell emanating from my tackle shed so I’ve taken the opportunity to have a mid winter tidy up and to take stock of what I’ve got and whats to go on my shopping list.

I’m very glad to report that I think I need to buy more fishing tackle. My old friend Okuma Interceptor IBF50 has quite a bit of damage now after 17 years of heavy use. The bait runner tab at the back of the reel is half missing/broken and the bail arm spring has given up the ghost. I’ve already ordered a like for like replacement from Ebay as this Okuma is probably one of the best/most reliable reels I’ve ever owned.

I have this reel in both IBF40 and 50 size and have now decided to stock up on both of them before they get harder to source.

I’ve also got an old ABU506 closed face reel that has a slipping clutch and a chipped reel seat – this time to be replaced with the most up to date version. I received some tackle vouchers for Christmas and a new ABU is soon going to be on its way.

Other than that – my hook stocks needs replenishing, and my box of leads needs refilling. I have an over abundance of swim feeders but they should get thinned out over time. I also need to get the rings on my Drennan float master sorted out as there are a few missing through misuse.

Reels now oiled, and old bits of bait chucked in the bin. Am looking forwards to yet another great fishing year in 2020.

The marital disharmony has now been solved by the discovery and disposal of two packets of rotten worm that had been forgotten about at the bottom of my sea fishing box…. urgghhh

I rarely reference the angling club that I chair, or the other fishing administration stuff that I get up to, as my blog is my online journal of my actual fishing

I try to keep my virtual fishing activities (or as my wife calls is fishing when I’m not fishing) that I get up to with The Salford Friendly Anglers Society, The Mersey Rivers Trust, The Angling Trust and other organisations that I engage with separate from my Fishing Fiend Blog.

However – for a change I would like to share this important development with you from our fishing club.

The Salford Friendly Anglers Society – have launched The Friendly Anglers Fund – an “in perpetuity fund” where all money donated will be ring fenced – and 50% of the interest generated each year will be spent on angling projects, and the other 50% re-invested into the future growth of the fund.

It is hoped that the fund will grow into something that makes a significant difference to angling in the future for our children and grandchildren. Angling as a sport/hobby/pastime is under constant threat from the likes of the anti-brigade and developing an “in perpetuity fund” can only enhance and strengthen the sport we love.

After a tough day mulling over financial spreadsheets I wanted nothing more than a few hours of peace and quiet on the river after work. A quick trip to the tackle shop turned into a slog through the traffic, and a swift in and out at home turned into a chat with the wife and kids about their day and me being sucked into sitting down with them for tea.

I didn’t get to the riverbank until 6.30pm but when I finally arrived the excitement rose as it looked spot on.

I set up with 15ft Drennan float rod, my trusty old Abu 506, and a 5bb stick float – bait…. just to see what was there… a single maggot on a size 18 hook. Having fished this swim a few times over the last couple of years I wasn’t really expecting too much as I’ve still never had as much as a bit from it (despite recent reports of chub and dace being caught from the opposite bank). Over the years I’ve been present at the stocking of more than 40,000 fish into the Irwell,, many of them going in at this exact spot… I’ve still to get a bite here,,, but god loves a trier !!

And my luck hadn’t changed from previous visits, as an hour and 15 minutes later I still hadn’t had a bite.

Now in recent times, fishing time has been limited and I didn’t want to be wasting a whole evening on a swim that might be devoid of fish…. so a move was in order…… upstream/downstream decisions decisions….

Downstream was the choice .. and I settled down in a fast pacey swim where I’ve previously caught good nets of roach.

First run through in the new swim resulted in a smashed maggot, second run through a fine plump dace of about 6 ounces.

I had a bite a chuck for the next two hours – packing up on the dot of 10pm – as the bells of Manchester Cathedral tolled in the distant back ground (take that as a hint).

The dace were aggressively but cunningly attacking the single maggot as it ran through the swim… if I let the bait run with the flow, the bites didn’t register and I came back with a smashed maggot…. If I held the bait back to about half the speed of the flow then the fish self hooked themselves, especially as I moved a size 6 shot to within about 4 inches above the hook.

Mixed in with the dace were the usual aggressive trout – I landed two decent fish of about 2lb, and got smashed by one much bigger, that just hurtled off across river like an express train. My light silver fish gear not really being up to the job of hanging on to a big bucking bronco brownie.

I reckon that I had close to 20lb of fish in the last 2 hours – and might go back again in the next week or two with a keepnet and get a nice net of fish and share the picture.

Here’s the smaller of the two browns that I landed – a lovely fat fish.

Just like the rest of you…. I’ve been in love with fish, fishing, and all things fishy for longer than I care to remember.

To say fishing has been a major factor in my life is something of an understatement.

It’s 10 years since my pal Tony Peet took these two photos of me….. its 12 years since I started reading his blog….. I wonder if he really understands the impact this amazing fisherman has had on my life.

An evening on the Ribble — let the good times roll

Anyway – enough of that sentimental shite… No one call me for the next few days….. I’m off fishing 🙂

Its Parklife weekend in North Manchester – a huge weekend long outdoor music festival that people 30 years younger than me find enjoyable.

Now that I am a curmudgeonly 50+years old – I just get grumpy at the traffic, the noise and the litter (though the views are not too bad).

Drinkwater Parklife

So – instead of heading in the direction of Heaton Park where Parklife is held,,,, I turned in the opposite direction and headed towards Drinkwater Park.

I’m glad I did – as Drinkwater Park Lake has been fishing much better than Heaton Park Lake recently.

I’ve been on a couple of times this week – been smashed up a few times by some unseen monsters in the weeds – hooks straightened…. lost a monster tench maybe 8lb+ at the net 🙁 and landed a few nice fish too).

My swim for the day – an alternative view

My set up recently has been pellet waggler rod, hand made float by my mate Mike Cootes, and simple waggler tactics of worm or corn over a bed of hemp and pellets. Nothing fancy but very effective.

Don’t be put off by the weeds,,,, step up your tackle and have some fun, the lake has been fishing really well this year.

Always good fun on the Old River Irwell (a still water created by the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal) in Irlam, which has a tremendous head of small to medium size pike max upper doubles.

I was a late arrival at 8am just as it was getting light. Others had been on since 7am but as yet no one caught any fish…. which was unusual as in previous years the most productive times had been the hour before and after dawn.

I set up a single rod, and had to wait until nearly 11.30am before I caught the first fish of the day. A small fish of no more than 2lbs

Here is is…. believe it or not…. the same fish….. firstly held by my pal Karol…. who pushed it out towards the camera lens and then by me held in towards my body.

Perspective !The same fish !

A startling difference – and as you can see from the second more honest photo – not really much of a Pike at all.

This year every angler caught a pike, and they were all caught between 12.30 and 1.30pm

By 2.30 we had all had enough and retired to the pub – to continue the more social element of the days “social fish in”